In the race to become the 2016 Suzuki Asian Challenge Champion, Jefri Tosema seemed to have bettered his odds with an unbeatable combination of skill, determination and a dash of good luck.
Although he lost the pole position to arch-rival Rozaliman Zakaria during the qualifying session, Jefri quickly established himself as pack leader at the start of the seven lap race. While the Indonesian ace proved that he could certainly hold his own against his peers, Jefri was gifted with a windfall when mechanical gremlins forced Rozaliman into retiring at the end of Lap 1.
Jefri was quick to pounce on the opportunity and claimed his third win of the season with 16’05.471s. India’s Jagan Kumar finished second with 16’05.542s followed by Indonesia’s Rizal Feriyadi third with 16’05.699s.
“It was a difficult race. Every rider was side-by-side and nobody was going to make it easy for me to increase my points collection. With Rozaliman out of the race, I knew that I had to win this race in order to win the championship title,” said Jefri.
The title chase in the Suzuki Asian Challenge is now all but confirmed. Jefri leads with 152 points, 22 points ahead of fellow Indonesian Muhammad Sapril. With Sapril admitting that he is still recovering from a pre-race injury, the outcome of the 2016 Suzuki Asian Challenge title chase seems to be a foregone conclusion.